One reason for my silence is that my schedule this quarter is out of control. I’m teaching one class and helping with another in an effort to endear myself to an incredible interdisciplinary undergraduate program. Also, since I have no funding for the spring quarter, I’m staying at home with my son two days a week, to save money on childcare. I’m also sort of working on my dissertation proposal, but it keeps getting pushed aside to take care of these other more pressing issues…

All that as a preface to the two different perspectives on education proffered here by the philosopher Eduardo Mendieta (“I think education is indispensable to the intellectual, spiritual, economic and political well being of citizens, and by the same token, for the well being of our democracy. Education is the nourishment of all vibrant and maturing democracies.”) and Reid Hoffman, the corpulent doofus behind Linked-In, who considers education to be an investment that requires a careful assessment of return on investment. It probably suffices to say that Hoffman suggests that those who like working with people go into sales or marketing, while Mendieta opines:

“Some people have even used the expression: education is a commodity, or an asset, an investment. Yes, it is to an extent, but such monetary reductionism conceals something about education that goes beyond how well one does in a market economy.”